Day 2 in Holland

Day 2 of our trip to Amsterdam began with a trip to the countryside in Holland, which is a region of The Netherlands.  We were to see windmills, a wooden shoe factory, a fishing village and the countryside outside of Amsterdam.

We had rain off and on...but so much wind...We learned that the area north of Amsterdam is very windy!  The land is flat...much is below sea level...so there is nothing to slow down the wind.  The Dutch have used the wind to their advantage. 

Here is the village of Marken...on a peninsula of Northern Holland.

This is a beautiful, old village that used to be a fishing village. Now its main income comes from tourism.  Long ago the area flooded frequently, so the homes were built on stilts or mounds.

The old wooden buildings are still used as homes, businesses and hotels.

We went to a clog maker/wooden shoe factory.

The shoes are made from chunks of wooden blocks from poplar trees that are cut and then soaked in water before being carved.

Below is the machine that today carves the wooden shoes.... 

....with the carved shoes hanging from the ceiling.

Wooden shoes were developed to keep peoples' feet dry in the soggy ground that is mostly below sea level.  

We were told that the shoes are very comfortable...best to be worn with thick socks and be 1-2 sizes larger than one's normal shoe size.

I could never find a pair just right for me...but these shoes outside of the shop were calling to me!

In the same location as the shoe factory, we also saw a short demonstration about how cheese is made.  We never realized the long process involved in making cheese! 

The countryside in Marken is picturesque...so quiet and beautiful!

As this was the weekend before Queen's Day, we started to see areas decorated for the big event. Red, white and blue are the colors of the Netherlands, and orange is for the royal family.

We were in a large tour group and I much preferred being close to our tour guide...right up front!

We went to the dock and boarded a small ferry that took us on a 30 minute ride across a lake to the fishing village of Volendam.

Though an active fishing village, Volendam is also tourist location. We spent an hour and a half here....walking around and hiding out in a restaurant during a rainstorm. 

Our lunch hideout from the rainstorm was "De Lunch", below.

We had heard about the Dutch pancakes...so I was ready to try some.

I liked them...though they were quite large. I had one pancake with fresh strawberries....

....while Mark had apple pie and hot chocolate - some lunch!

The perspective of this photo, with Mark's hand in the background, makes the pie look much bigger than it was....or was it really that big?

Yay!  The sun really did come out for a bit while still in Volendam.

We were given time on our own to explore and so we did.   

We loved the quaint homes, the beautiful backyards, and the canals running between the houses.

Our last stop on our countryside tour would be to the Windmill village of Zaanse Schans, a 30-minute bus ride away.  I loved the views from the bus, and Mark enjoyed his nap!  While traveling, we learned how the Dutch people used windmills to reclaim the land by pumping away water that had covered the ground for so long.  It is a long process...but they have worked on it for hundreds of  years.

For us, this was to be the highlight of the day - to see a number of windmills together....

....alas, because of earlier delays we only had 30 minutes here, and it was raining and getting dark. 

But the windmills were beautiful and we loved seeing them here in the country even if it was rainy and cloudy.

The wind was so strong that it flipped our large and sturdy umbrella inside-out a few times.  But we pointed it into the wind, and it flipped back into place!

When we arrived back in Amsterdam there were blue skies...we loved seeing the sunshine and blue skies here...the canals and tall skinny homes look even more picturesque!

After taking the train back to the Sloterdijk stop near the hotel, we walked down the stairs and saw a huge parking lot full of bicycles.  Actually, the parking lot extends much to the left of this picture also.  Amsterdam bicycle fun facts:  Bicycles have the right of way over pedestrians, and there are more bikes than people in Amsterdam.

During our stay I often wondered....who rides these bikes? When do they get here and do they ever leave? Well, this evening we actually saw someone retrieve his bike and ride away, and another person parked his bike before heading to the train station.  But most of the time the bikes appeared to be permanent fixtures.

We had also noticed that most bikes are quite simple...and then on a tour the guide explained that almost no one rides expensive bikes because the good ones are usually stolen.

Here we are in the middle of the bicycle parking lot...and our Holiday Inn Express hotel is straight ahead, on the other side of the elevated train track in front of us.

At first I wasn't too pleased with our hotel selection, but then I realized...though simple, we had a free breakfast each morning, and it was in a great location to travel to and from Amsterdam each day.

Our first full day in The Netherlands has been great and we truly do love being in Amsterdam!